Duncan Brown
@duncanjbrown.com
CTO for Digital Prevention Services, NHS England
https://mechanicalsurvival.com
https://mechanicalsurvival.com
Reposted by Duncan Brown
Wrote about my first 7 months transforming the technology underpinning the national breast screening programme: lizlutgendorff.substack.com/p/lessons-le...
Lessons learned after 7 months at NHSE
Not what I expected but in a good way.
lizlutgendorff.substack.com
January 6, 2026 at 10:57 AM
Wrote about my first 7 months transforming the technology underpinning the national breast screening programme: lizlutgendorff.substack.com/p/lessons-le...
My sense is that the Test and Learn movement in the public sector anchors much more on “build-and-test” than “describe-and-defend” as this essay sets them out… possibly to its detriment?
In a new blog post, I contrast two flavors of empiricism: the one practiced in the social sciences and the one practiced in ML/CS.
I argue that we need both, given that CS is increasingly about "claims," and not just constructing artifacts.
doomscrollingbabel.manoel.xyz/p/the-empiri...
I argue that we need both, given that CS is increasingly about "claims," and not just constructing artifacts.
doomscrollingbabel.manoel.xyz/p/the-empiri...
January 4, 2026 at 9:34 PM
My sense is that the Test and Learn movement in the public sector anchors much more on “build-and-test” than “describe-and-defend” as this essay sets them out… possibly to its detriment?
“You want your structural engineers to be drawing, not laying bricks, after all. I don’t know if structural engineering works like this, but software engineering doesn’t. In practice, architecture advice often has to be ignored by the people on the ground.”
www.seangoedecke.com/you-cant-des...
www.seangoedecke.com/you-cant-des...
You can't design software you don't work on
--
www.seangoedecke.com
December 29, 2025 at 8:14 PM
“You want your structural engineers to be drawing, not laying bricks, after all. I don’t know if structural engineering works like this, but software engineering doesn’t. In practice, architecture advice often has to be ignored by the people on the ground.”
www.seangoedecke.com/you-cant-des...
www.seangoedecke.com/you-cant-des...
10 lessons from 2025
Technology & identity in GDS and the NHS
mechanicalsurvival.com
December 27, 2025 at 11:54 AM
I disagree with the conclusions of this excellent, reasonable article by @zoescaman.bsky.social zoescaman.substack.com/p/the-palant...
The Palantir Model
Where Strategy Goes Next
zoescaman.substack.com
December 8, 2025 at 6:18 PM
I disagree with the conclusions of this excellent, reasonable article by @zoescaman.bsky.social zoescaman.substack.com/p/the-palant...
Reposted by Duncan Brown
One of the many joys of using AI for programming is the creation of huge PRs on complex topics that the authors barely understand, but still suggest "because they work". Here's a great example from #OCaml github.com/ocaml/ocaml/...
Kudos to OCaml's maintainers for handling this so gracefully.
Kudos to OCaml's maintainers for handling this so gracefully.
DWARF support for macOS and Linux by joelreymont · Pull Request #14369 · ocaml/ocaml
DWARF v5 Debugging Support for OCaml Native Compiler
This PR adds DWARF v5 debug information to the OCaml native compiler, allowing proper source-level debugging in GDB and LLDB.
What's Impleme...
github.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:48 AM
One of the many joys of using AI for programming is the creation of huge PRs on complex topics that the authors barely understand, but still suggest "because they work". Here's a great example from #OCaml github.com/ocaml/ocaml/...
Kudos to OCaml's maintainers for handling this so gracefully.
Kudos to OCaml's maintainers for handling this so gracefully.
This really resonates. Meetings are the synchronisation penalty public servants pay for an overwhelmingly synchronous, distributed system of management. The “meeting culture” is not optional—it expresses a cultural void where autonomy can’t flourish.
Sthg I don't specifically call out in this blog post on AI notetakers is how awful some bits of govt meeting culture appear to be. The bit about presenteeism directly reflects feedback from
junior folk who talked about how important it is to turn up to meetings www.careful.industries/blog/2025-11...
junior folk who talked about how important it is to turn up to meetings www.careful.industries/blog/2025-11...
Nine risks caused by AI notetakers — Careful Industries
AI transcription tools are not currently mature or reliable enough to be regarded as an always on, single-source of truth for meeting notes. Nine common risks, and six possible mitigations.
www.careful.industries
November 22, 2025 at 12:50 PM
This really resonates. Meetings are the synchronisation penalty public servants pay for an overwhelmingly synchronous, distributed system of management. The “meeting culture” is not optional—it expresses a cultural void where autonomy can’t flourish.
Reposted by Duncan Brown
This fantastic paper "proposes a vision of AI that embraces local vernaculars, the multiplicity of objectives, the responsibilities that come with producing persons, and the potential of instigating rather than circumventing political contestation."
read.dukeupress.edu/public-cultu...
read.dukeupress.edu/public-cultu...
From Thin to Thick | Public Culture | Duke University Press
read.dukeupress.edu
November 8, 2025 at 7:54 AM
This fantastic paper "proposes a vision of AI that embraces local vernaculars, the multiplicity of objectives, the responsibilities that come with producing persons, and the potential of instigating rather than circumventing political contestation."
read.dukeupress.edu/public-cultu...
read.dukeupress.edu/public-cultu...
A few ideas on what "good software" (not "good code"!) is, touching ethics, interop, commercials and functionality
🧵
🧵
for context: the second edition of "Observability Engineering" starts off swinging with an opinionated chapter called "The Fundamentals of Building Good Software".
which begs the question... what IS ✨ good software ✨?
i'll drop my answers 👇 but curious to hear others.
which begs the question... what IS ✨ good software ✨?
i'll drop my answers 👇 but curious to hear others.
@charity.wtf asked a great question on LinkedIn today. Her question was: "What is ✨ good software ✨?"
I'd love to hear your answers, but I'd also like to share mine. So if you'll allow me a moment of indulgence... 🧵
I'd love to hear your answers, but I'd also like to share mine. So if you'll allow me a moment of indulgence... 🧵
October 27, 2025 at 6:41 AM
A few ideas on what "good software" (not "good code"!) is, touching ethics, interop, commercials and functionality
🧵
🧵
"[Open standards] can feel like a burden to the participants. They should! The alternative is each product imposes its incompatible opinions directly on the users rather than working through the trade-offs with competitors first."
Yet as we outsource "the work" to suppliers, we outsource this too.
Yet as we outsource "the work" to suppliers, we outsource this too.
Several current and former NHS staff have told me similar, angry stories about what happens to our old health records after the contract for a new, incompatible IT system is signed.
It turns out proprietary storage formats are a problem:
oli.zilla.org.uk/2025/10/20/w...
It turns out proprietary storage formats are a problem:
oli.zilla.org.uk/2025/10/20/w...
October 23, 2025 at 10:13 AM
"[Open standards] can feel like a burden to the participants. They should! The alternative is each product imposes its incompatible opinions directly on the users rather than working through the trade-offs with competitors first."
Yet as we outsource "the work" to suppliers, we outsource this too.
Yet as we outsource "the work" to suppliers, we outsource this too.
This morning's AWS outage prompted reflections in NHSE towers that "disaster recovery" and "inclusive services" directly overlap. For instance, the Record a vaccination service have designed a paper-only data capture process for when the internet is unavailable
Wrote a blog post about why there's no such thing as a universal digital service - which may seem counterintuitive "now that everyone has a phone" but it remains as true today as it was 10 years ago.
www.careful.industries/blog/2025-10...
www.careful.industries/blog/2025-10...
There’s no such thing as a universal digital service — Careful Industries
In a world where Meta has more users than most countries have residents, it seems odd to say that digital services aren’t universal – but universal services need to work for everyone, not just for peo...
www.careful.industries
October 20, 2025 at 10:18 AM
This morning's AWS outage prompted reflections in NHSE towers that "disaster recovery" and "inclusive services" directly overlap. For instance, the Record a vaccination service have designed a paper-only data capture process for when the internet is unavailable
Clichés take hold in political language, a vicious cycle that runs through campaign speeches, through citizens’ expectations, and down into the software we build or procure by cliché, whose accordingly poor performance invites further calls for simplification. mechanicalsurvival.com/blog/design-...
Design by cliché
We reject cliché. We require true names
mechanicalsurvival.com
October 18, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Clichés take hold in political language, a vicious cycle that runs through campaign speeches, through citizens’ expectations, and down into the software we build or procure by cliché, whose accordingly poor performance invites further calls for simplification. mechanicalsurvival.com/blog/design-...
Reposted by Duncan Brown
a wonderfully humane take on the real consequences of our choices around ai and teamwork and diversity and pretty sure i would have been ugly crying by the end.
Why I don't believe in "small giants": mechanicalsurvival.com/blog/team-dy...
Team dynamics after AI
Small giants and real giants
mechanicalsurvival.com
October 8, 2025 at 10:03 PM
a wonderfully humane take on the real consequences of our choices around ai and teamwork and diversity and pretty sure i would have been ugly crying by the end.
Reposted by Duncan Brown
Some reflections on @duncanjbrown.com's recent article "Team dynamics after AI", which is one of the best/most important pieces of writing I've read on AI in a long time
October 8, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Some reflections on @duncanjbrown.com's recent article "Team dynamics after AI", which is one of the best/most important pieces of writing I've read on AI in a long time
Why yes that IS a @charity.wtf sticker on my work notebook! 💖
October 4, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Why yes that IS a @charity.wtf sticker on my work notebook! 💖
Why I don't believe in "small giants": mechanicalsurvival.com/blog/team-dy...
Team dynamics after AI
Small giants and real giants
mechanicalsurvival.com
October 3, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Why I don't believe in "small giants": mechanicalsurvival.com/blog/team-dy...
If prompts are all we have left to record our intentions when we're programming, we should keep them. Automatically, if possible. mechanicalsurvival.com/blog/prompts...
Prompts are design documents
...and we should keep them
mechanicalsurvival.com
July 29, 2025 at 6:52 AM
If prompts are all we have left to record our intentions when we're programming, we should keep them. Automatically, if possible. mechanicalsurvival.com/blog/prompts...
In praise of AI applications that can finish. mechanicalsurvival.com/blog/structu...
Structuring unstructured data is a correct use of AI
Who wouldn't want to be desirable, verifiable and adoptable?
mechanicalsurvival.com
July 9, 2025 at 6:49 PM
In praise of AI applications that can finish. mechanicalsurvival.com/blog/structu...
Reposted by Duncan Brown
A *massive* thank you to @duncanjbrown.com, Elliot from HFEA, @ayymanduh.bsky.social and @mrdudders.bsky.social for being brilliant at Data Bites last night - one of the best we've done
Watch back as live: app.sli.do/event/6buz4o...
#pddatabites
Watch back as live: app.sli.do/event/6buz4o...
#pddatabites
March 6, 2025 at 8:55 AM
A *massive* thank you to @duncanjbrown.com, Elliot from HFEA, @ayymanduh.bsky.social and @mrdudders.bsky.social for being brilliant at Data Bites last night - one of the best we've done
Watch back as live: app.sli.do/event/6buz4o...
#pddatabites
Watch back as live: app.sli.do/event/6buz4o...
#pddatabites
Reposted by Duncan Brown
If you're interested in UK #govtech or #opendata, the Incubator for AI have just open-sourced this like of "Awesome UK Government Datasets" and are looking for contributors!
github.com/i-dot-ai/awe...
github.com/i-dot-ai/awe...
GitHub - i-dot-ai/awesome-gov-datasets: A curated set of references to useful UK Government datasets
A curated set of references to useful UK Government datasets - GitHub - i-dot-ai/awesome-gov-datasets: A curated set of references to useful UK Government datasets
github.com
January 8, 2025 at 10:11 AM
If you're interested in UK #govtech or #opendata, the Incubator for AI have just open-sourced this like of "Awesome UK Government Datasets" and are looking for contributors!
github.com/i-dot-ai/awe...
github.com/i-dot-ai/awe...
🧵 Some standout quotes from this paper, which uses the Prison Service as an example of how centralised political control can impoverish us when it annihilates the autonomy of people directly responsible for delivering public services: bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...
bristoluniversitypressdigital.com
January 3, 2025 at 1:52 PM
🧵 Some standout quotes from this paper, which uses the Prison Service as an example of how centralised political control can impoverish us when it annihilates the autonomy of people directly responsible for delivering public services: bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...
Reposted by Duncan Brown
Ministers and officials need to confront the two lies that dog spending reviews: effiencies are rarely that, instead they lead to blunt cuts with unconsidered consequences; the Treasury's self-identity as a strategic performance budgeter is shattered by their increased use of input controls
It is time to confront the 2 great lies of UK spending reviews
As we head into an unusually significant ‘outcome focused’ spending review ministers and senior officials should reflect on two mistruths that have dogged public expenditure controls and the accompany...
www.civilservicereformuk.com
January 1, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Ministers and officials need to confront the two lies that dog spending reviews: effiencies are rarely that, instead they lead to blunt cuts with unconsidered consequences; the Treasury's self-identity as a strategic performance budgeter is shattered by their increased use of input controls
This was an honour! ❤️
Great to hear @richardpope.org and @kateldn.bsky.social in conversation with @duncanjbrown.com at our internal all hands! 🙌
December 12, 2024 at 1:01 PM
This was an honour! ❤️
Chris Cunningham eat your heart out
December 12, 2024 at 10:40 AM
Chris Cunningham eat your heart out
This is righteous. Imo gatekeeping is not only a plausible explanation, but *the best explanation* for all the gratuitous complexity in frontend development that’s sprung up over the last decade.
lovely post by @hazelweakly.me - let's cut out the gate-keeping. it's not doing anyone any favours. hazelweakly.me/blog/you-hav...
You Have One Voice | Hazel Weakly
I was originally going to call this post “What makes a programming language real?” because I saw some people picking a fight on the internet about this type of...
hazelweakly.me
December 10, 2024 at 9:14 AM
This is righteous. Imo gatekeeping is not only a plausible explanation, but *the best explanation* for all the gratuitous complexity in frontend development that’s sprung up over the last decade.